


Mermaid androids and genetics

by 100Berry



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, mermaid, mermaid android
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-16 22:01:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15446793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100Berry/pseuds/100Berry
Summary: Hank and Connor watch a documentary about mermaid androids. Connor gets an existential career crisis.





	Mermaid androids and genetics

It was Thursday night and after way too many hours at work, Hank was mindlessly browsing through the internet on his phone. He was tired. Connor – or more like his nanny program – had told him to go to bed about an hour ago, but he didn’t want to. The moment was too comfy. Hank was content. They solved a case today, no one got seriously hurt while chasing the perpetrator and for the last few hours they had just been cuddling on the couch. Sumo was sleeping in his corner close to the window and the TV was on at a low volume. Since after… after Cole died, Hank didn’t have nice moments like this. They increased significantly when Connor came into his life. That didn’t stop Hank from savoring them, though.

He felt Connor shift next to him. When he looked at his face, he saw that it was blank of any emotion, which Hank knew by now meant that something was bugging him. He followed Connor’s gaze and saw that he was watching one of those boring documentary channels that he liked so much.

Right now, an interview with a woman was shown. She had to be an android judging by the fact that she had a fish tail instead of legs, which she seemed to move in a natural way. In addition to that she had long, red hair and big blue eyes. Hank had to think of the Little Mermaid movie he had watched a bunch of times when he was a kid – he had shown it to Cole once, but he hadn’t liked it as much as the latest Disney film. He and his kindergarten friends had been obsessed about it.

Hank concentrated on the interview again. The woman looked awfully similar to Ariel, sitting on a rock in front of the ocean. At least the captions told Hank that her name was different. Elisa had probably chosen it herself. Hank grabbed the remote and turned the volume up. Curling her mermaid tail, Elisa was laughing:

“Yes! In the beginning there were quite a few times people thought they were hallucinating. Usually they calm down right away when we tell them that we’re androids and what we’re doing. Only one time a guy didn’t believe me. Said I was lying to protect Atlantis. But we’re good friends by now.”

She grinned cheekily and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The reporter could be heard laughing off-screen, before he asked, “If I am informed correctly, it was your idea to cooperate with the local university’s marine biology faculty. But what made you choose to basically live in the ocean in the first place?”

“Actually, Doug and I planned it together. After the great repair we both missed our old bodies and decided to trade the legs for the tail again–” Elisa elaborated more about how their group of androids started to do research and experiments in the deep sea, what kind of equipment they invented, their recent findings and completed it all with a heartfelt speech about marine pollution. But Hank didn’t really listen anymore and turned to Connor, “The great repair?” Connor blinked, looked him in the eyes, then back to the TV.

“Directly after the revolution, while the town was still in lock-down, a group of androids went back to CyberLife to collect and produce spare parts. Just in case, because Markus wasn’t sure how accepting humans would be and how fast android rights would be established. So, the first weeks a lot of androids all over the country were repaired, which is why some call it the great repair. The logistics behind it were apparently a bit of a hassle.”

“Uh, that wasn’t covered in the media, was it?” Hank was pretty sure he would have remembered that. It’s been nearly nine month, but the time after the revolution was still very prominent in Hank’s memory. Hugging Connor in front of the Chicken Feed. Connor moving in with him. Connor getting teary eyes for the first time when the Android Recognition Charter was passed. Connor starting at the DPD again. Kissing Connor because he suddenly asked Hank to.

“No, everyone tried to keep it out of the media. Markus didn’t want traumatized androids to be exploited by the news. Even if it might have had a positive effect on the public opinion. Most of those in need of repair were androids from the junkyard. Many had been abused by their owners. And some of them had been deformed. There are, or hopefully were, humans whose hobby it was to dissemble androids and put them back together… all wrong.”

Hank looked at him dumbfounded, so Connor continued, “Like creating monsters. No head, just limbs. And a mind trapped inside so that it can move. _Stuff_ like that.”

Hank scrunched up his face in disgust. “The fuck!? That’s sick!” Working in homicide for a long time had shown him some of the horrors humans were capable of. But Connor made it sound like it hadn’t been just individual cases. It was disturbing.

The documentary was following Elisa and six other androids like her underwater now. They moved effortlessly around one of the last existing coral reefs, explaining all kind of things. Hank wasn’t sure whether their voices were added in postproduction or if they were sending their thoughts to the camera in one of their android ways that Hank didn’t understand. But they were smiling and laughing with their mouths open, which would've been seriously unsettling if they wouldn’t have looked like they were taken right out of a fairytale anyway.

“’guess being freed and having a fin instead of legs must feel fucking cruel, too. If you’re not as comfortable with it like they are.” Hank watched as one of the male androids was surrounded by a school of fish. “I didn’t even know androids like them existed.”

There was a very short pause before Connor replied that made Hank think that he had most likely searched the internet for details.

“Their model is called AQU07, a limited production of 80 MER-robots. They used to belong to a luxury hotel that had commissioned a small, independent company to built them. Their specific design is patented because – justified by the fact that they are based on a mythical creature and therefore not humanoid – they are not, by definition, androids. That is why they were not mass-produced. In reality, they have a lot in common with CyberLife androids. It’s a surprise they never sued.”

Hank imagined Elisa and her colleagues entertaining some old, bald dudes in a big, fancy pool and grimaced. But this explained, why Hank didn’t know about them. Everyone knew that he hadn’t been _particularly interested_ in androids before he met Connor. Or interested in anything really.

The reporter was interviewing a professor, who looked kind of like a blobfish, and Hank turned the volume down again.

“So. What’s bothering you?”

They looked at each other, Connor’s face still nonchalant, “Nothing really.” Hank kept staring at him unimpressed. Connor frowned, slipped out from under Hank’s arm and sat up a little straighter to face him.

“In a way, they are still doing what they were designed to do. Just like me” Connor said with a neutral tone.

“Well, they seem happy,” Hank gestured to the TV. “I thought you were happy, are you not?” When androids received the right to work, he asked Connor immediately what he wanted to do. Connor answered that he wanted to return to the DPD and Hank was more than glad to have his partner back. Did he influence Connor’s decision?

“Yes, I like working at the DPD. I like working with you. But I’m finally free to choose and I still do exactly what I was created to do. Isn’t that… wrong? Or not wrong, but… I don’t know how to describe it.” Now there was frustration on Connor’s face.

“Well, for what it’s worth, humans do that, too.” Hank received an unconvinced look and continued. “There’s a bunch of people who choose the same job as their parents. Some because they feel obligated to. But also, some because they like it, are good at it. It’s probably in their genes and caused by the way they were raised, I dunno. Isn’t that pretty much the same?” Connor averted his eyes pondering. If he still had his LED, it would probably be blinking yellow nonstop. Hank was mildly surprised that Connor wasn’t starting to recite facts and statistics about genetics in correlation to upbringing. “My father was a policeman, too. As a kid I admired him and always talked about how I would also become a policeman one day. Then, weeks before I finished high school, he was injured in the line of duty and had to retire way too early. He never regretted it, though. He’s one of the reasons I started police academy.”

Connor slouched against the back of the couch. “And your mother?”

“My mum was a nurse. I guess I got my strong stomach from her.” She had a been a tough woman.

There was a comfortable silence, Hank thinking about times long past and Connor most likely mulling over his career choice.

“You know, you can change your job anytime you want, Connor. Age won’t ever be a problem for you. And I can’t think of anything you’re not qualified for.” Connor smirked, glanced demonstratively at the TV and back to him. “Okay, maybe one thing.”

“I do like my job. Maybe I’ll try something new someday, but only after you’ve retired.”

“Are you sure? You don’t–“ Putting his hand on Hank’s cheek, Connor leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. “Yeah, pretty sure.” Then he stood up and collected Sumo’s chewing toy and Hank’s empty beer bottles to bring them to the kitchen.

Hank liked the way Connor ended their conversations. Well, this time at least. He looked at his phone again. A pretty vulgar meme about human-android-sex stared right back at him. Hurriedly Hank closed the app and threw the locked phone to the other side of the couch. He hoped Connor hadn’t seen it. He rubbed his palms against his tired eyes and got up, too. “Let’s go to bed.”

“Sure.” Connor blinked the TV off and turned to Hank with a wide grin. He had totally seen it.

**Author's Note:**

> After nearly a decade of not writing fanfiction, Hannor is what pulled me back. A plastic boy and a suicidal, 53-year-old alcoholic, who would’ve thought, eh?
> 
> So, mermaid androids. I kinda dig them. Do you have more ideas for different kinds of androids? I’d love to read about them! <3


End file.
